Highlighting Pedestrian Equity Considerations Using Walkability Space Syntax: A Case from Suburb in India

Abstract

Increasing urbanization has led to uncontrolled growth along the periphery of urban areas, particularly in developing countries. This has led to the formation of suburban areas around the metropolis, which are characterized by low-density neighborhood with the places of activities like education, and work, usually far off from one another. Walking is the predominant mode of transport across the world, but the facilities for pedestrians, while planning and implementation, are usually overlooked. Hitherto, ample amount of literature has been found to be centric to the pedestrian analysis in core city under different purviews, but only some studies highlight pedestrian inequity in suburban diorama. To highlight these pedestrian issues, a study was conducted in Kajlikheda, a suburb area of Bhopal, which is the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, a central state of India. The paper highlights the pedestrian equity concern through Walkability Space Syntax (WSS). WSS of street integration and pedestrian choice analysis is used for understanding the walking pattern in a neighborhood. A reconnaissance survey was conducted to find out the available pedestrian infrastructure and facilities, post which absence of these facilities was observed. To establish the share of pedestrians in traffic and reinforce the findings, a Traffic Volume Count was conducted, and pedestrian share was found to be substantial. In cognizance to the laid standards, volume to capacity ratio was calculated for automobiles and pedestrians for quantifying the Level of Service (LoS) for both the modes. Through statistical analysis, the paper attempts to express the need to take adequate consideration to provide better pedestrian facilities, which can be generalized in various suburban scenarios across the globe. The research also brings a new dimension to the pedestrian equity studies by integrating concepts of space syntax to answer the modality.